Nice Things Said

Back Cover Blurb

ALL THE KING'S MEN

Israel thought that he had never seen such a sight as when the British
came out of Boston. He had seen professional soldiers and their
weapons before, but never had he witnessed the full pomp of war and
the things it was meant to hide. The uniforms of the enemy were
brilliant, as bright and ruddy as blood, and there were many of them,
so many. More than thirty barges moved across the channel toward
Charlestown in orderly rows, oars flashing to a steady beat, as
everything moved to that beat. In the bows were bright brass cannon
and bright jagged stacks of bayonets that reflected every fragment of
the noonday sun. This was a juggernaut, an unbelievable machine
designed for harm, and it was coming to embrace them in battle.

When your ship burns at sea, you return to dry land and farming. When you enlist in the militia, the war comes along and moves you at breakneck speed to Boston. There you find yourself dropped into the furious Battle of Bunker Hill. You recover from your wounds in time to sign aboard a ship with the worst captain ever to sail the Seven Seas. And you wind up a prisoner of the enemy.

That's the start of the story that has been called "one of the strangest ever made known." It's yours if your name is Israel Potter. If not, call yourself Everyman.

David Chacko is the author of twenty-two critically acclaimed novels in the mystery and espionage genres. He is also the co-author of one of the groundbreaking texts in the field: Crime and Punishment: An Introduction to Detective Fiction.

Alexander Kulcsar is an actor, dramatist, video producer, and
freelance writer specializing in American History. He lives in
Fairfield, Connecticut.

A Review

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David Chacko and Alexander Kulcsar have followed up their well-received novel Gone Over with The Brimstone Papers, a second story featuring the same character. This man, Israel Potter, was also the subject of a Herman Melville novel. Surprisingly, The Brimstone Papers, a continuation and prequel, is not inferior to the authors' first effort, or to Melville's novel.

The Brimstone Papers tells the story of Potter's early years and the events that precede his arrival in England as a prisoner. In doing so, the novel focuses on the first year of the Revolutionary War and the hectic action that takes place in New England from the spring to the deep winter of 1775. That includes the furore accompanying the Lexington Alarmparticularly uproarious in Potter's native Rhode Islandand two months later, the bloody Battle of Bunker Hill.

The account of that battle by Chacko, the author of seventeen novels, and Kulcsar, an actor and director, has all the makings of a classic. Seen from every possible angle on both sides of the torrid action, including that of General William Howe, who led the British assault up the hill, the battle has the scope and intensity that match the escalating ferocity of the encounter. Seldom has eighteen century warfare been so well realized.

The stalemate that prevailed after Bunker Hill is countered in the novel by having Potter go down to Plymouth, where he helps outfit and sail a privateer against the enemy ships that must make their way into Boston. This happens, though in way that almost no reader will anticipate, as Potter becomes entangled in his own past and the pasts and present of the men around him.

The brigantine Washington, named for the general who takes command of the American forces, will become the most famous prize that the British Navy captures during the war. The Washington's men will be prizes, too, after suffering in ways for which they set the standard. On that ominous note, The Brimstone Papers concludes with the lead-in to the long historical spy novel, Gone Over.

The Brimstone Papers was published by Foremost Press. It can be ordered through local bookstores and at ForemostPress.com, Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com.
ISBN 10: 1-936154-40-4
ISBN-13: 978-1-936154-40-1
244 pp, $14.97